The family returns to Tennessee, where Frances raises the children and writes, while Swan moves to Washington, D.C., to begin his eye-and-ear medical practice. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer appears . Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

1877 The family joins Swan in the capital. Frances enters a period of intense work, creativity, and output. Her fame and earnings steadily increase, making her the breadwinner of the family. Burnett’s first novel, about Lancashire mining culture, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s, is published, as is Surly Tim, and Other Stories. Henry James’s The American is published. Queen Victoria is proclaimed empress of India.
1879 Haworth’s is published. In order to protect its copyright and royalties in England, Frances travels to Canada to fulfill the legal requirement of standing on the soil of a British dominion on the day of the British publication. Burnett forges friendships with contemporary writers Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Louisa May Alcott.
1880 Louisiana is published.
1881 A Fair Barbarian is published. Esmerelda, a play written with actor/dramatist William Gillette, is produced in New York. President James Garfield takes office, and Frances, Swan, and the boys socialize at the White House.
1883 Burnett publishes the novel Through One Administration, a revealing reflection of her Washington, D.C., social life and her unhappy marriage. Critics compare her writing to that of Henry James for its portrayal of contradictions in human nature. Constantly traveling on work-related business, Frances is often on the verge of nervous exhaustion. Although she does not reveal her problems, her marriage begins to suffer. The Supreme Court overturns the Civil Rights Act.
1884 Burnett begins traveling more frequently to Britain and Europe , spending long periods away from her family. Her relationship with Swan begins to dissolve; she is torn between being a good mother and living independently of her children and husband. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn appears.
1885 Little Lord Fauntleroy is serialized in the magazine St. Nicholas. Its tale of a young American boy who discovers he is an English lord causes a literary sensation akin to that of today’s Harry Potter books. Mothers begin having their sons wear long curly hair and velvet suits to look like Fauntleroy. Frances dresses her own son Vivian, the inspiration for the character, in dandyish garb. She falls ill and receives treatment from a mind healer in Boston.
1886 Little Lord Fauntleroy is published in book form and becomes a runaway best-seller in America and Europe. Burnett grows wealthy from the sales of her books and indulges a passion for decorating houses and creating exquisite gardens.
1887 A Woman’s Will is published, as is the story “Sara Crewe.” Burnett
informally separates from Swan, taking her sons on a tour of Europe. Their itinerary includes a stay in London for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebration.
1888 Frances’s stage adaptation of Fauntleroy opens in London three months after she learns of an unauthorized dramatization there. In a feat believed to be impossible at the time, she successfully sues under the Copyright Act of 1842, earning the gratitude of fellow authors. George Eastman patents the rollfilm camera.
1889 The Pretty Sister of José is published. Frances is involved in a traffic accident and incurs a concussion that further weakens her already fragile health.
1890 Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories is published. After months of seeking a cure for her eldest son, Lionel, Frances is devastated when he dies of tuberculosis. Perhaps in response to her son’s illness and death, Frances becomes active in children’s charities , to which she donates generous sums of money.
1891 Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is published.
1892 Children I Have Known is published.